Century Drive-In
3560 W. Century Boulevard,
Inglewood,
CA
90303
3560 W. Century Boulevard,
Inglewood,
CA
90303
6 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 37 comments found
Uploaded aerials 1952 and 1980. Other links are broken.
dick… Those drive-ins in Cincinnati and Albany ran WINDJAMMER, so, technically, they showed CineMiracle rather than Cinerama.
The Century Drive-in WAS NOT the 1st Drive-In to install 3 strip Cinerama. It had been done 2 years earlier in Drive-Ins in Cinncinnatti, Ohio and Albany, N.Y.
Thanks for the high quality repros
Here are some Cinerama ads:
http://tinyurl.com/n42vvw
http://tinyurl.com/mhdotz
http://tinyurl.com/n5vw2u
Here is an undated photo of the Century:
http://tinyurl.com/ltaxxa
Here is an August 1974 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/rd29p4
Enter the address on this site for some aerial views in the 50s, 70s and 80s:
View link
Hmmmm, interesting. I grew up in a housing tract in Gardena called Hollypark, which is close to where Century Drive-in was. Hollypark is between Crenshaw and Van Ness, and El Segundo and Rosecrans. My parents bought their house there new in 1955. We lived there until 1965, at which time we moved to Torrance. We used to go to three or four different Drive-ins when we lived in Hollypark – Century, Vermont, Roadium, and sometimes Centinela. We didn’t go to Century as often as the others because of the airplane noise. I saw “101 Dalmations” there – I was pretty young, but I remember it pretty well. It started to rain during the opening credits – we thought we were going to have to leave. It died down and we were able to watch the whole movie. I do remember the airplane noise, but I was so thrilled to be there that I didn’t care.
In September 1954, the LA Times reported on the construction of a new drive-in theater to be called the Hollypark, east of Crenshaw near Imperial Highway. This was to be in conjunction with a 300 million dollar city, also called Hollypark. The drive-in was to be operated by Pacific Theaters. Perhaps because of the proximity of the Century, the Holypark was never built, nor was the city.
More information and photos are here.
My family moved to Inglewood in 1953 and I remember a small Army anti-aircraft installation just south of the Century Drive-in at the corner of 104th street and Yukon ave. There were several gun emplacements and bunkers. Being 7 years old at the time I was impressed by all the hardware. This facility was de-activated soon after and the land remained vacant for some time. I believe Morningside High School had already been built across 104th street. Needless to say the family took advantage of this great drive-in on many occasions.
The entire stretch of Century between Prairie and Crenshaw has been built out for retail. I remember only about ten years ago most of this land was vacant. Hollywood Park itself will be gone in five years, for a mixed retail/residential project.
Detroit 9000 was released in August of 1973.
Here is a September 1973 ad:
http://tinyurl.com/2xpcwk
Here is a 1954 ad:
http://tinyurl.com/2utwos
Here is a June 1953 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/2eas35
IN 1963-64 I WORKED AT THE CENTURY AS A LOT ATTENDANT WHILE ATTENDING EL CAMINO COLLEGE. WE WORE LONG WHITE ‘LAB’ STYLE COATS, TRIMMED IN RED WITH MATCHING CAPS. BETWEEN FEATURES MOST OF US HELPED OUT IN THE CONCESSION STAND. THE PIZZAS AND FROZEN MALTS WERE OK. I AVOIDED THE CHILI DOGS.
WHILE STILL EMPLOYED THERE THE CORPORATION INSTALLED CINERAMA. A FEATURE NARRATED BY LOWELL THOMAS LAUNCHED THE NEW SENSATION. YEARS LATER AT A DENVER HOSPITAL, LOWELL THOMAS STEPPED INTO AN ELEVATOR AS I STEPPED OUT. SMALL WORLD.
“JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS” PREMIERED AT THE CENTURY. CO-STAR NANCY KOVAK MADE AN APPEARANCE. WOULDN’T YOU KNOW I HAD THE NIGHT OFF!
The Century DI with its Cinerama screen can be seen in The Brady Bunch Episode #100 titled “Peter and the Wolf” when Peter and Greg take two girls to the drive in.
posted by theaterdude on Feb 21, 2005 at 2:59pm
sorry to disapoint you… but I rented this episode of the Brady Bunch and it is NOT the Century… . . however it is a so cal drive in… . the Gilmore.
I worked there as a projectionist at one time and they were one of a handfull of Drive Ins that had Stereophonic speakers for the car.
Matt Spero
People have commented on the various murals used by Pacific for its drive-ins. Here is a picture of the Rosecrans Drive-In in Paramount with an interesting sci-fi mural. The theater is not listed here, unless it’s under another name. I copied the photo from socaldriveins.com:
View link
From socaldriveins.com:
View link
Here is a picture, courtesy of the LA Library:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics17/00028237.jpg
The first time I ever went to a movie theatre in California, it was here. It was 1982 and I was 10 years old. It was a double feature of “The Beastmaster” and “Swamp Thing”. I don’t remember much of anything else except the fact that I thought it was cool seeing a movie in California!
I grew up on 108th. st. and Wilton pl. in the 60’s. Our parents would take us to Century Drive-in once a month. We saw “Night of the living Dead”, along with other great movies. My mom would make us hot dogs and popcorn to bring with us. Me and my brothers would go in our pj’s because we would always end up falling asleep! On the days the theater was closed, my dad would take us to ride our go kart and mini bikes in the parking lot! Those were the days when you didn’t have to worry about being robbed! Such memories!!
What I would have given to see a movie in cinerama at this great Drive-In. God I wish Drive-Ins would make a comeback.
Dave Grau (Mungo)
Norelco